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Hi Chris - First of all, what are your thoughts on Leno potentially signing for Arsenal?

Personally I rate Bernd Leno highly. He’s a quality goalkeeper who already plays at a high level, but still has room for improvement.

I’m well aware of the fact that the opinions about him are quite divided in Germany. But with David Ospina potentially leaving and Cech getting older, we need an upgrade in the goalkeeper position and there’s almost nothing you can do wrong with a German keeper who also has been part of the national team for quite a while now.

Bernd Leno of Germany lifts the FIFA Confederations Cup trophy.

Of course all the Karius/Champions League final images will pop now but first of all, I don’t rate Karius at all - which most football fans in Germany don’t. And secondly, the performance rate of German goalkeepers in general speaks for itself.

Can you tell us a little bit about his career so far?

Alright let’s do a little facts check. Leno is 26 years old which is very young for a goalkeeper.

He has played for Bayer Leverkusen since 2012 when he joined them from Bundesliga side VFB Stuttgart, where he spent most of his football career at youth level.

At 1.90m, he has a decent hight for a keeper. He has only won a few honours so far which mostly come at youth level with the U17 European Champions in 2009.

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In 2017, he was part of the German national team which won the Confederations Cup. He has six caps for Germany to date after making his debut in 2016.

He has made 233 Bundesliga appearances so far.

So what are his main strengths?

Without a doubt his sharp reflexes paired with his goal line play. He’s very quick to react which gives him an advantage in tight situations.

Besides that he has a good vision to start the counter attack.

And his weaknesses?

Most will say his main weakness is his concentration. In recent years there have been situations in which he lacked focus, something which has led to avoidable goals.

It's got better over time and definitely has been minimized, but that’s definitely something he has to keep working on to become even more reliable.

Bernd Leno. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)

But when you look at Marc-Andre ter Stegen and his development at Barcelona, a move to a different league can work out very well.

Why didn’t Leno go to the World Cup?

The decision to go with Kevin Trapp as the third choice surprised a lot of journalists in Germany. I was a bit surprised as well, but in the end it’s only the third choice goalkeeper who won’t play anyway, unless something goes badly wrong.

I guess it was a tight decision between Trapp and Leno, so we should’t read too much into it.

In your opinion, is Leno an improvement on Cech?

Cech is still a good goalkeeper who I would be happy with for another season. But the opportunity to get a young German international is just too tempting. Cech lost his pace and his game changing ability last season.

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He’s still capable but he needs to be replaced soon, so it may be the best option to give a young keeper the chance to learn from someone like Cech with all the battles he has fought.

The potential fee seems to be about €25m, do you see that as good value?

€25m for a goalkeeper some years ago would have been a no go. But in the modern market teams now have to operate at those prices. I think it's a very good deal for a German international at a young age who has good experience at a good Bundesliga team.

If you look at other options in the market you will see that quality goalkeepers go for much more (e.g. Oblak). And with other positions in need of being strengthened at Arsenal this summer, you need to balance your budget.

Sven Mislintat has always had Leno as his first choice when looking at a new keeper, can you understand why?

Probably because he knows what he is getting. He has been in the scouting business for a long time and most of it in the Bundesliga which would have made scouting Leno an easy task.